I have already built a "cluster in a box" for my own computer research by taking a Dell PowerEdge 1655 blade server (12 processors) and running Redhat 9 with the Oscar clustering software. All in a single 4u box. At around $20k it isn't that much more expensive than the "coming soon" machines mentioned in this article and comes with 1.4 GHz P-III instead of the not exactly commonplace chips mentioned in the Orion machine.
Only downside was the machine is just way too loud to use on my desktop (my original plan). Had to stuff it into a spare room as the fans really make a lot of noise. Still, the beauty of 'ssh -X' means I essentially have a 12 processor desktop machine for code development and running applications.
Slashdot Mirror
I have already built a "cluster in a box" for my own computer research by taking a Dell PowerEdge 1655 blade server (12 processors) and running Redhat 9 with the Oscar clustering software. All in a single 4u box. At around $20k it isn't that much more expensive than the "coming soon" machines mentioned in this article and comes with 1.4 GHz P-III instead of the not exactly commonplace chips mentioned in the Orion machine. Only downside was the machine is just way too loud to use on my desktop (my original plan). Had to stuff it into a spare room as the fans really make a lot of noise. Still, the beauty of 'ssh -X' means I essentially have a 12 processor desktop machine for code development and running applications.